


lips like strawberry liqueur

by orangecherry



Series: it takes two [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kiss, M/M, Mutual Pining, Training Camp, everybody say thank you suga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23322316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangecherry/pseuds/orangecherry
Summary: how does one move on from something as monumental as realizing you like someone after making out with them in a room with at least ten other people?(or daichi loses his first kiss on a drunken dare that left him with a hangover and feelings he just can't afford.)
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi
Series: it takes two [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677214
Comments: 17
Kudos: 116





	lips like strawberry liqueur

daichi brought this upon himself. plain and simple.

he should have known better.

he should have known better than to let suga talk him into joining the 3rd years from the tokyo schools for their so-called golden week game night, which literally was just them sneaking into an abandoned storage room in the sleeping quarters to play party games and drink the alcohol one of the guys sneaked into shinzen. 

and the thing was, daichi has had his fair share of alcohol. his father had let him taste sake when he turned sixteen. and since then, one of his uncles secretly hands him a can of beer at every family gathering. he knows what those taste like, and he knows exactly how much he can drink before he starts feeling tipsy. but last night, the concoction they passed around in small paper cups was a new breed altogether. 

each cup he downed was filled with something sweet and syrupy. daichi still remembers the warmth that accompanied the sweetness, making its way down his throat and spreading throughout his body. it wasn't unpleasant, not at all. treacherous was what it was.

because to no one's surprise but his, the pleasant buzz in his system that bordered utter drunkeness presented a large chink in his armour. 

"suga," he starts, the throbbing in his head even more apparent now that he's gone through his morning routine, "neither of you really thought of holding me back?" 

he gives asahi a pointed look from across the table, and suga just laughs at his predicament, full-bodied and almost sinister. 

"god, why would we? you seemed like you enjoyed it." suga smirks at him like he knows something daichi doesn't. 

his blood boils, thinking of a way to retaliate, but it was no use. 

he would hate to admit it, even to himself. but suga wasn't wrong, not really. 

and despite the self-awareness, daichi just isn't ready for this conversation. 

not today, not now, not ever. 

the cafeteria was almost empty when they arrived, only a couple of first years from ubugawa occupying a table near the door. it was way too early to be having this conversation, but suga purposely woke both him and asahi a solid thirty minutes before their alarms, determined to get something out of daichi before anyone else could, as if any of the other third years would be brave enough to ever bring it up.

suga takes a long sip of his morning tea, eyeing daichi wearily, "besides, you wouldn’t have needed us to stop you if you weren’t drunk. you could have declined the cups bokuto was handing out. so, why didn't you?"

daichi rolls his eyes, shoveling a particularly large spoonful of rice into his mouth. 

always trust suga to strike the right chord, because it's a loaded question with a simple but utterly stupid answer. 

daichi takes full responsibility for last night's chain of events. but in all honesty, if there was any other person to blame for this entire ordeal it would _him_. 

daichi looks back down on his plate, almost too quickly for it to go unnoticed by suga and asahi, who both turn around to see what caused the sudden shift in daichi’s demeanor.

"oh! kuroo!" suga waves, beckoning kuroo to join them at their table.

on impulse, he steps on suga's right foot under the table. and suga looks back to stick his tongue out at daichi. 

_fuck._

daichi knew the moment they met that kuroo would bring him nothing but trouble, and last night's fiasco proves just that and two more important things.

first, his instincts were right and kuroo is everything he should stay away from. 

second, something about him truly brings out the worst in daichi in more ways than he could imagine and recount. because the sole reason why he kept downing every cup that went his way was the look in kuroo’s eyes, no words but a challenge nonetheless. 

third, kuroo fucking tetsurou stole his first kiss on a dare that daichi should have bailed out on but didn't because he was drunk out of his mind. and drunk daichi apparently has no sense of self-preservation whatsoever.

and he'll never admit this out loud. but he liked it. he liked the kiss.

he liked it so much, he can't even look kuroo in the eye anymore. 

"hey, sawamura." 

daichi spares him with a glance and a small smile, before picking up his tray in one last bid to save what remaining pride he has. daichi wonders if kuroo remembers everything too, and he probably does. 

daichi hates how alcohol intoxication seems to take away his usual inhibitions but not memories of what he had done while drunk. and while losing a chunk of his memory would have alarmed him, he certainly wishes he could erase from his memory the image of a kuroo tetsurou that's barely an inch away from him, just a second away from completely bridging the distance between them.

but he remembers, too clearly for his own sanity. 

so against every logical voice in his head, he chooses to do something he never really does.

he walks away. 

* * *

playing set after set after set is difficult in itself, but playing with a splitting headache from a hangover that just refuses to wear off is an entirely different challenge. that paired with the fact that he hadn't eaten lunch, deciding to spend the entire lunch break in his futon to try to sleep off his headache, is just pure utter chaos. 

daichi could have sworn this day couldn't get any worse, but kuroo had made it a point to stare him down from across the net every single time they play a set. and it’s not even the usual teasing look accompanied by that ever-present smirk on kuroo's face, but one daichi doesn't even recognize. 

and while he managed to escape kuroo back at the cafeteria, he can't avoid him here on the court, where daichi just wants the ground to swallow him whole.

and unsurprisingly, suga wastes no time in letting him know about his thoughts on the matters at hand, "you look like shit. and you both can't get any more obvious than this, daichi."

he asked coach ukai to sub him out a couple of rallies ago under the pretense of letting ennoshita get more playing time in. and while that's true and is a part of their training plan, daichi just needs a moment to breathe.

"yeah, yeah. i know." he takes a big gulp of water from his bottle and wipes off the sweat matting his forehead. 

if anyone else has noticed the awkward tension bouncing off between him and kuroo, no one has mentioned anything. 

he feels nauseous, and he just hopes he doesn't look as bad as he feels. suga is too perceptive for his own good, and daichi simply wishes no one else realizes how bad his current state is.

he’s counting. he’s missed a total of nine receives (ones he usually would have gotten easily), spiked five perfectly set balls way out of the court (sorry, kageyama), and served four balls into the net (one even landed squarely on the back of tanaka's head).

he can't wait for this set to end, because it marks the end of the day's practice matches. and while he initially had plans for extra practice with the others to polish their new synchronized attack, he knows a reset in the form of a long bath and a meal is in check. 

the final whistle is blown, and the loss handed to them on a silver platter meant one more round of uphill sprints. 

he gathers the rest of team on the bench and calls over those still on the court, "okay, let's go! one more round of the penalty sprint, then free practice before dinner for an hour."

he takes the mix of affirmation that ranged from excited to downright exhausted and walks ahead of everyone to the gym's double doors. 

it's already dark out, and the air is cooler than it was during the day. but it retained the humidity that daichi hates, and somehow it's even worse now. 

he stands at the side of the line to signal the start of the sprints with a clap of his hands. 

from his peripheral vision, he can see suga eyeing him warily. but he waves him off. 

"okay, go." 

he can feel the frustration and exhaustion radiating off his teammates, and the difference in their responses to those feelings is apparent in the varying looks on their faces. it prompts a voice in his head that tells him he should start worrying. but the trust he has in his teammates is more than enough to drown that voice out. it's going to take a bit more time, and he chastises himself for getting side-tracked by something he could have avoided. 

he takes a deep breath, channeling the bits of energy left in his body into an imaginary ball he can focus on to prevent himself from throwing up or passing out. 

with every clap, a pair sprints up the hill, until it's just him and nishinoya left by its base. 

he takes another deep breath, and he runs. 

* * *

the cool water slipping down his skin feels like a blessing. 

so he takes his time, staying under the shower a little longer than he usually does. 

how he managed to not throw up after the run back down the hill, he honestly isn't sure how. but he takes pride in that small achievement of not embarrassing himself in front of all his teammates and the remaining people who were trickling out of the gym. 

getting through this day with minimal damage is a feat in itself. 

it's as if the gods banded together to save his ass from what could have been a complete disaster of a day, successfully preventing what could have been a lengthy sermon from coach ukai and takeda sensei about taking care of himself and setting a good example to his teammates among other things that could have happened if he did pass out or throw up or both. 

he steps out of the shower with a ghost of a headache looming. but he's just glad the nausea is gone and that this headache is probably one that a full meal and good night's sleep can solve. 

he quickly dresses in the most comfortable sleepwear he brought, a ratty, hand-me-down shirt that's definitely seen its time and an old pair of gym shorts. 

as he dries his hair, daichi vows to never get drunk again. 

truthfully, the thought of getting drunk again should be the least of his problems. 

his father always tells him that the best way to solve any problem is to find its root. because no matter what solution he comes up with, it won't be able to solve anything if that solution isn't for the actual cause of the problem. 

sooner or later, he has to face the music. 

he's attracted to kuroo. 

while physical attraction is one thing, this was something different altogether. because he's had crushes over looks alone, and this isn't just that. 

sure, the guy's attractive. daichi isn't blind. he knows how to appreciate a good looking person when he sees one. and kuroo has been filed under that category since their first handshake. 

and while it took him a while to realize it, the attraction has always been there. but it had been overshadowed by the need to wipe the annoying smirk off of kuroo's face by battling it out on the court and beating him. 

and he's probably blowing this way out of proportions, but how does he just move on from something as monumental as realizing you like someone after making out with them in a room with at least ten other people. 

and he'd like to think that it's so unlike him to allow something like that to happen, but voices in his head that sound awfully like asahi and suga say otherwise.

but the thing is, there's literally no room in his life right now to even consider his feelings. not when there's a bigger goal ahead of him, one that he's been chasing after for years. and for the first time since he joined the club in his first year, professing his hopes for a team that's lost its glory, that dream doesn't seem too far off. 

this dream is so much bigger than him, but now more than ever, it's within his reach. he's the captain of a team that's determined to chase after it no matter how difficult it seems. 

which means whatever he feels right now has to wait or has to be forgotten.

* * *

five cups of rice and a serving of curry meant for at least two people later, daichi thinks he's finally ready to call it a day. which means, he can finally get a good night's sleep and pretend he didn't go through a day's practice with a hangover and that the events that involve and caused it never happened. 

just a half day of practice matches left before they go back home, and he can try and delude himself into thinking that he doesn't like kuroo as much as he actually does. 

out of sight, out of mind.

except. this cursed day just doesn't want to end, not until it ends daichi first. 

"hey, can we talk?" 

kuroo is looking at him the same way he has been all day. and it's unnerving, because daichi can't read what it means at all. there's no snark in it, no trace of that smirk daichi's been dying to wipe off. 

and now that it's gone, daichi isn't sure if what stands in its place is something he prefers. 

he nods, walking with kuroo to an unfamiliar path between the gyms and sleeping quarters. 

daichi fidgets with his hands, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists. the walk is silent, too silent for his liking. 

the brief moments he's spent alone with kuroo have always been filled with friendly banter that often skirted the fine line that stood between a companionship between captains and blatant flirting between two high school boys. and daichi admittedly enjoyed every bit of it. 

kuroo stops when they reach a clearing that overlooks the campus. it isn't too high up, but from where they stand, daichi has a clear view of the buildings that have become familiar to him. 

"you have more color in you now, sawamura. that's good." 

there's a small smile playing on kuroo's lips, and daichi still doesn't know what to make of it. if this were any other scenario before the kiss and before he freaked out and starting avoiding kuroo, he'd take this jab and hit back with something else. but even though he can't read exactly what kuroo means, with his tone and the way his shoulders are slightly hunched, daichi lowers his walls just a little bit. 

"yeah, it's been a rough day." he says truthfully, not bothering to coat his words with sarcasm, because this conversation is veering into unfamiliar territory. and daichi wonders if it'll go somewhere that would ease the nagging voices at the back of his head.

kuroo gives him a sheepish look, scratching the back of his neck as if it'd buy him more time, "uh. look, i'm really sorry. for last night. i- um. i didn't think you'd react like that."

so the conversation was steering in this direction. of course, this had been the most plausible scenario, the one where kuroo tells him the kiss doesn't mean anything. after all, daichi may have been misreading their interactions. maybe there wasn't flirting involved at all, and that he was just unknowingly projecting the feelings he'd been supressing onto kuroo. well, then it's fine. they should settle this once and for all, so daichi can stop overthinking and start moving on.

so he says the best thing his mind could come up with to clear the air between them, "ah, shit. no, i'm sorry. i was overreacting. i shouldn't have walked out on you this morning."

"oh. huh? you did?" 

kuroo looks genuinely surprised by the admission, and daichi looks at him with a puzzled expression. if he wasn't talking about the kiss, then...

"what? wait." 

both their eyes widen, and daichi blushes at the realization. 

the familiar smirk that has annoyed daichi to no end is back, and more than ever, it's sending daichi into overdrive. his cheeks feel warm, warmer than they should. he knows he's already blushing, but it's like the switch has been flicked, and kuroo's back to normal. 

and daichi is sure it's because kuroo _knows_. 

"hey. the apology isn't for the kiss. just so you know." he says, taking three steps that place him less than a half a foot from daichi. 

he's sure kuroo can see the color dusting his cheeks, and he'd be embarrassed if not for the fact that despite the reemergence of his patented smirk, kuroo was blushing too. 

"oh."

kuroo licks his lips, and daichi's finds his eyes drawn to them. 

"it's for getting you drunk, i guess? i didn't realize you were more… high-strung when there's alcohol involved." kuroo pauses, worrying his lower lip between his teeth.

at this point, daichi's just staring at kuroo's lips, wondering if all his nervous habits involve his lips. but kuroo doesn't seem to notice at all, seemingly lost in thought. but daichi gives him time. the view isn't so bad after all.

"but, uh. we can forget about it. if that's what you want? but just so you know, i'd do it again if you let me." kuroo's eyes widen suddenly, realizing something daichi doesn't, and he scrambles to complete his train of thought, "i mean. not just that, i'd like to- um- take you out too. i mean if you want to." 

it takes daichi a solid minute to take that in. because he didn't think this far, not yet at least. 

he purposely takes him time though, because it was too amusing to just let this go easily. and daichi being daichi, he lets kuroo suffer through the silence a little longer than he should, finding amusement in the faces kuroo was making under his scrutiny.

"hmm, i don't know. would you still want to go out with me after we beat your ass at nationals?"

a few beats pass before kuroo catches on, and a bright smile greets daichi before he's pulled into a warm, solid chest. 

"you wish."

**Author's Note:**

> one of my long-time kurodai headcanons is that kuroo is daichi's first kiss, and while it took me a while to come around and write a fic that involved that hc, i'm just really happy i finally finished this one
> 
> thank you for reading! 
> 
> twitter: @kurodaiquiri


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